Enthusiasm is that place between perseverance and defeat. It is what makes someone stay motivated and keep going and others give up and quit. Enthusiasm.

So how does one get it and how does one keep it? Look at your own life experiences to times when you lost your desire to work at something whether it was a marriage, a career, or something less dramatic as painting a room. So you didn’t finish the room or you were too tired to touch up the trim. Maybe you don’t call it quitting because it is insignificant on the giant spectrum of life but with something like a marriage or career, the results could be disastrous.

Imagine you want something so wonderful – so out of reach – anything – a car, a career, a house, a spouse, a smaller waistline, whatever it is – imagine it. Do you feel energy inside you – don’t worry about how you will get it – just imagine it. The how isn’t important – release that from your mind. OK, you have that image now. Now think about that every day. That image. Keep that image alive. Every time you think about it you can add more detail to it. If it were a house, you can start to add furniture and accessorize the house. The color of the walls, the carpet or tile or wood flooring. The light fixtures. Every time you think about it feel the energy. That energy is enthusiasm.

So now you know what that feels like – let’s build on that feeling and keep it alive. You have a job to do, some task, and you aren’t feeling too motivated or enthusiastic about it. You can use self-talk to give you energy. You know that if you do it now you will be grateful later. You know that this task is the right thing to do and the benefits will outweigh the energy spent on the task now. Focus on the end result to build your motivation.

Sustain enthusiasm by understanding what the outcome is to your actions. Enthusiasm is an emotion that you show and feel and sometimes when you aren’t feeling so enthusiastic about something, you can pretend to be and the more you pretend, you trick your mind into believing that you actually are enthusiastic. It is a phenomenon that will help you sustain your enthusiasm when you aren’t feeling very motivated or full of energy.

Being enthusiastic about a task at hand will spill into other areas of your life and you will see that your positive enthusiastic attitude will lighten up a room. You will become that person others are drawn to.